Malefice

With some seriously snarling vocals, harmonies reminiscent of old Darkest Hour and chugging breakdowns ripped right from numerous similar metalcore bands, Malefice are Britain’s answer to the recent wave of artists bringing thrash back into the spotlight. Sounding like thrash supergroup Nightrage, Malefice have offered up a tasty smorgasbord of riffs likely to get heads banging. Quite accurately, their bio states that if "they had grown up in Shitbucket, Idaho, they’d be on Headbanger’s Ball already.” Sadly, the overall ferocity of Entities is stalled by the smattering of completely out of place clean vocals amongst the growls in several of the songs. This, however, is the only complaint one can muster after repeated spins of Entities. It’s not album of the year material but it is a solid, mostly consistent release that should provide a great platform for future songwriting. Certainly a band to keep an eye on, Malefice’s sound should bring them success amongst the new wave of metal bands.